Generally, as shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B and 1C, a cassette tape recorder such as an ultra miniature video camera places a tape cassette 10 to a deck 12. When the tape cassette 10 is inserted into a housing 11, the housing 11 is pushed toward the deck 12 for loading the tape cassette 10 to the deck 12 by lifting and lowering links 13a and 13b installed on a side of the housing 11.
A rack gear 13c located at one side of the link 13a is engaged with a connecting gear 14a of a housing shaft 14 which is laterally extended in the housing 11, so that the links 13a and 13b installed on a side of the housing 11 are driven simultaneously.
Thereafter, under play mode, the cassette tape moves toward a drum 101 on a main chassis 100 to load, so that information can be recorded to or regenerated from the cassette tape. The recorder also includes a capstan motor 102, a loading motor 103, and a sub-chassis 110 for sliding onto the main chassis 100.
However, during the loading of the cassette tape to the drum after as described above, it often happens that the cassette tape is grasped by an upper edge of the drum, thereby causing damage to the drum and the tape. Thus there is felt a need for a device for guiding the tape to the drum.
In order to solve this problem, there has been proposed a device, and this device is illustrated in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 2, a lever 15 is mounted on a side of the front wall of the housing 11 to be pivoted around a pin 15a. A slider 17 is mounted by means of a spring 16 approximately in parallel with the housing 11 and connected to one end of the lever 15 by a connecting pin 15b.
Meanwhile, pivoting means 18 is installed to the other end of the slider 17, and a securing pin 18a is provided on the top of the pivoting means 18 in such a manner as to be inserted into between engaging pieces 17a of the slider 17.
After the insertion of the tape cassette 10 into the housing 11 and during the loading of the tape cassette 10 to the deck 12 as illustrated in FIG. 1, the tape is guided by the pivoting means 18 before being placed on the drum.
When the lever 15 pivots clockwise around the pin 15a, the slider 17 moves to the right side by the action of the spring 16. Consequently, the pivoting means 18 pivots by 90 degrees around the pin 18b for loading the tape to the drum.
However, the above described conventional device is complicated in its structure, thereby lowering the productivity and reliability.